Microorganisms exhibit shifts in elemental stoichiometry in response to short-term temperature increases due to varying growth rate, biochemical reactions, and protein degradation. Yet, it is unknown how an organism's elemental stoichiometry will respond to temperature change on evolutionary timescales. Here we ask how cellular elemental stoichiometry and physiology change in Escherichia coli that have adapted to high temperature over 2,000 generations compared to their low temperature adapted ancestor. Cell lines evolved to a temperature of 42.2 • C via two, negatively epistatic adaptive pathways leading to mutations in either the RNA polymerase complex or the termination factor rho. Compared to the ancestor, high temperature adapted cell lines overall had 14% higher N:P ratios, but did not differ significantly in C:N or C:P. However, cell lines with mutations in the rho gene had 13% lower C:N and 34% higher N:P. Furthermore, the two adaptive strategies of the rho and RNA polymerase mutations varied significantly from one another, cell lines with the rho mutation had lower C:N, higher N:P and higher protein content compared to cell lines with the RNA polymerase mutation. Thus, specific adaptive pathways modulate the effect of temperature on the cellular elemental stoichiometry and may explain why the elemental composition of specific lineages is differentially affected by temperature changes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.